Valve control.



C. W. LARNER & H. B. TAYLOR.

VALVE CONTROL. APPLICATION FILED DEC. I0, 1917.

Patented Nov. 5, 1918.

V AY a/ MW ZIP 11x11 for-s C. WLHRNER HB.THYLoR THE IR dl'l'muu Ygravity. This switch is UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHESTER W. LARNER, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, AND HARVEY BIRCHAIRD TAYLOR, OF

' PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

VALVE CONTROL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 10, 1917. Serial No. 206,440.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHEs'rER W. LARNER and HARVEY BIRCHARD TAYLOR,citizens of the United States, residing at Cleveland, Ohio, andPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, respectively, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Valve Controls, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention consists of a valve which may be operated by power meansfor opening or closing it, and with which there is "associated a safetydevice arranged so that when the apparatus controlled by the valve isout of order, or in case of other emergency, the operating mechanismwill operate the valve.

In the accompanying drawing, which shows our invention in diagram, wehave shown our invention applied to a typical valve 1 in a pipe 13arranged to be operated by a solenoid 2 to open the valve and by anothersolenoid 3 to close the valve. A circuit for the solenoid 3 which closesthe valve is controlled by a push button 4 which is arranged in the wire5 leading from one side of the source of supply of electricity to thesolenoid. The other side of the solenoid is connected through the wire 6directly to the other side of the source of supply. The solenoid 2 whichopens the valve is energized by a circuit in which there is a pushbutton 7 between the solenoid and one Side of the source of supply, theother side of the solenoid being connected by wire 6 directly to theother side of the source of supply. Both of these push buttons 4 and 7are normally held open by springs 8 and are held closed only when theoperator holds them in. The push button 7 associated with the openingsolenoid 2 is also provided with an auxiliary set of contacts 9 whichare normally closed and are in another circuit leading to one side ofthe solenoid for closing the valve. Beyond these normally closedcontacts 9 of the push button 7 and between them and one side of thesource of supply is a switch 10 which is closed by provided with asolenoid 11 which may hold it open. At one side, the solenoid 11 isconnected d1- rectly to the source of supply through wire 6 and at theother side, it is connected to the other side of the source of supplythrough a coil 12 which surrounds the pipe in which 1s the valve 1 whichis controlled. When the apparatus is in normal operating condition,current continuously passes through the solenoid 11 and holds open thegravity closed switch 10 but if the nine. 13 breaks, the circuit for thesolenoid 11 will be broken at the coil 12 surrounding the pipe 13 andwill allow the gravity switch 10 to close thereby closing a circuitthrough the solenoid 3 which closes the valve 1. It will thus be seenthat if there is a break in the pipe, the valve will be automaticallyclosed until the break is repaired. A double pole hand switch 14 isshown in the circuit controlled by the gravity switch 10 and by openingthis double pole switch 14 the safety protection may be removed and thevalve 1 may operate to open and stay open irrespective of the conditionof the pipe 13.

The arrangement described above represents one embodiment of thisinvention, but other arrangements, and other means of operating thevalve are of course possible, and are specifically included within thescope of this invention which may be applied to any type of valve. Theprimary operation of the valve may be by means of a hydraulic cylinderor motor, by devices using steam or compressed air,'by electric motor,or by any other available source of power.

It is also, of course, conceivable that conditions may arise wherereasons of safety would require the opening of a normally closed valveinstead of the closing of the valve as above described, and thisarrangement is, therefore, also within the scope of the invention.

It will be observed that by the use of our double position push button,the valve may at any time be opened by closing the push button since theclosing movement of the push button will not only close the circuit toenergize the opening solenoid but will also open the emergencyenergizing circuit of the closing solenoid so that if the gravity switchshould drop for any reason other than the bursting of the pipe line andthe valve should thus be closed accidentally and it should, therefore,be necessary to open the valve immediately by manual control, the act ofpressing the button to open the valve manually will at the same timebreak the circuit which has already closed the valve accidentally.

We claim as our invention:

1. A valve, means for operating the valve by power, and an electriccontrol for said operating means arranged to be actuated automaticallyby the interruption of an electrical circuit caused by the breaking of aconductor forminga part of said circuit.

2. A valve, means for operating the valve by power, and an electriccontrol for said operating means arranged to be actuated automaticallyby the interruption of an electrical circuit caused by the breaking of aconductor forming a part of said circuit, together with a means ofactuating the control by hand for opening and closing the valve.

3. A valve, an operating motor for the valve and electrical control ofsaid operatinotor arranged to maintain the valve in its normal positionby means of a closed electrical circuit, the interruption of saidcircuit by the breaking of a wire or other conductor serving to set thevalve operating motor in action.

4. A valve, a power operating mechanism therefor, and an electricaldevice actuated by the interruption of an electrical circuit due to thebreaking of a wire or other conductor and controlling the operatingmechanlsm.

5. A valve, a power operating mechanism therefor, an electrical deviceactuated by the interruption of an electrical circuit due to thebreaking of a wire or other conductor and controlling the operatingmechanism,

and an independent hand operated controh contacts on the last mentionedand in the circuit. I

7. A valve, manually controlled electric means to operate the valve, andemergency means to operate the valve automatically when a circuit isbroken.

'8. A valve, a solenoid to close the valve, a push button to energizethe solenoid, automatic -means to energize the solenoid, a solenoid toopen the valve, and means to energize the opening solenoid andsimultaneously disconnect the automatic means.

9. A valve, a solenoid to close the valve, a push button to energize thesolenoid, and automatic means to energize the solenoid when a circuit isbroken.

10. A valve, manually controlled electric means to operate the valve,emergency means to operate the valve automatically, and means forcausing one part of the manually controlled means when operated todisconnect the automatic means.

11. A pipe, a valve in the pipe, a solenoid for closing the valve, acoil on the pipe, an electromagnet in series with the coil, a switchheld open by the electromagnet when energized, a circuit passing throughthe switch and the closing solenoid, a solenoid for opening the valve,and a normally open push button for energizing the last mentionedsolenoid.

12. A pipe, a valve in the pipe, a solenoid for closing the valve, anormally open push button for energizing the solenoid, a coil on thepipe, an electromagnet in series with the coil, a switch held open bythe electromagnet when energized, and a circuit passing push buttonthrough the switch and the closing solenoid.

13. A valve, manuall controlled electric means to close the va ve, andemergency means to close the valve automatically, manually controlledelectrical means to open the valve, and means to disconnect theemergency means. p

14. A valve, a solenoid to close the valve, a push button to energizethe solenoid, automatic means to energize the solenoid, and means todisconnect the automatic means.

CHESTER W. LARNER. H. BIRCHARD TAYLOR.

